I’ve had an enjoyable few days. My son and his family were here for a visit. My granddaughter asked me to help her make  a pocket for her loose tooth.  Here is how the story goes and why she wanted a pocket for the tooth….

She had a shark tooth. That was a new one on me so if you don’t know what that is I’ll explain. Her permanent tooth is growing behind the loose tooth. She has been carrying a plastic zip lock bag in her backpack  just in case  the tooth fell out at school. And if she lost the tooth she might not get that big pay out from the tooth fairy. Remember, it doesn’t take much cash to inspire a 7-year-old. She had to have something to carry the tooth in until she got home and could transfer it to her tooth fairy pillow.

She drew a picture of what she wanted us to sew. Then we went into the studio so she could find the fabric she wanted to use. We found a yellow fabric with bright red cherries and a yellow dotted piece for the lining.  Instead of a pocket we made a little zipper pouch. She got some practice feeding the fabric through the machine so I could show her it wouldn’t eat her fingers.

Guess what happened a couple of hours after we finished the little pouch…the tooth fell out!  She decided she would put it under her pillow here with a note to the tooth fairy  that she hoped she would find her here at Grandma’s house.  And we all know that the tooth fairy can find a little girl or boy any place there is a tooth under a pillow. Ka-ching!!!

Thank you all for not chiding me over the misspellings in my last post….I can blame it on a keyboard that has gone wonky even after I check spelling, my wrist brushes the touch pad and WHISH letters and whole sentences disappear.

I need a break. I have a few commitments  ALL with deadlines coming  within the next 2 weeks.

Why oh why does that seem to always happen?

Feast or famine seems to be the order of things.

I wish I could play a little elevator music for you while you wait for something new and exciting to happen here.

I’ve put Ron to work hanging clothes line in the dye studio while I work.

Soon there will be spring breezes coming in the windows to dry fabrics and threads.

I’ll be ready!

I wanted to tell you a little more about the lessons I learned recently. Sometimes I write things to release them to the cosmos so I can move past them. That’s why I posted them.

The first lesson about a good deed was simple. I gave an acquaintance a large amount of Koa wood so her son could use it. She had lamented that he was starting to work in wood but all the exotic woods are expensive. Koa wood is VERY expensive and I had a large wide frame that I could part with to help him get started. The only thing I asked for in return was that he make some small token for me like a  hera marker. That was more than a year ago and my emails to her asking for either this small token or the wood back go unanswered. Its a shame really, but I learned that she and her son are the poorer for this and you can’t make someone show their appreciation.  I do believe in Karma.

The lessons I learned on written instructions and workshops all have to do with some of the natural dyeing I’ve been doing.  I have books from a couple of internationally known teachers. One says scouring the fabrics isn’t really necessary and another says it is.  The supply list for a workshop says to bring fabric that has been scoured but doesn’t elaborate. I cannot imagine a total beginner making heads or tails from all this.

I have used both methods for dyeing with good results. Or at least I thought I used both methods before dyeing. I have an old book on the subject of natural dye and decided to give that method of scouring fabric a go. Wow. Was I ever surprised. The water from previously scoured fabric turned so brown it looked like the fabric was in a tannin bath. I haven’t used any of it to dye yet, that will have to wait a few days. But I hope you can see why I was  frustrated about it all.